Indian social media app Koo announces shutdown amid failed acquisition talks

Indian social media media app Koo has announced its shutdown following unsuccessful acquisition discussions. Despite securing over $60 million in funding from prominent investors such as Tiger Global and Accel, Koo struggled to expand its user base and generate sustainable revenue over the past year.

“We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses, but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted,” wrote Koo founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka in a LinkedIn post. “Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the unpredictable nature of a social media company.”

Radhakrishna said Koo, at its peak, reached about 2.1 million daily active users and around 10 million monthly active users, with around 60 million downloads.

Koo aimed to attract users by offering a platform similar to X, enabling expression in multiple local languages. The startup also expanded its app to Brazil in an effort to grow its user base internationally. However, the prolonged funding winter, which has pressured startups globally to scale their revenue and improve financial stability, proved too challenging for Koo to overcome.

The founders acknowledged that the harsh financial climate ultimately led to their decision to shut down. This development underscores the difficulties faced by social media startups in sustaining growth and profitability, even with substantial initial funding.